“selective repairs” - why do I only have repair all equipped or repair full inventory. I couldn’t repair only my weapon when i had no money early game.
“Item favorite or locking” - so we don’t accidentally sell or destroy an item.
"sell loot/junk” button - if you implement the above we can use an auto sell feature
“buyback” - for any unintended selling
“press and hold for looting” - this is more an accessibility thing, press and hold down a key to do an small area autoloot. Also helps for things that are in a unobtainable elevations when the game drops item and lootable in weird places. Also saves fingers from developing more arthritis. =P
“rune swapping” - can be a for a fee but slotted runes can be swapped for free or for a price, it’s kind of annoying if I want to build my skills where i want them to be I need to delete all the runes on the gear then find a duplicate to re-bind all the runes to how I like them.
“gem crafting” - can be a good money sink to craft gems up to higher tier, chipped > mottled. (though i assume you are working on that)
Shield Mechanics:
“Blocking stagger resistance/poise” - Is the shield poise the intended design? I experimented with all 3 shield types. The same stagger amount regardless of the type of shield being used. The stagger res/poise should be different between the different shield types.
“Frontal area coverage a shield should block” - For example, a great shield can cover 180 degrees in front of the user, a medium shield covers 135 degrees of damage in front and light shield covers 90 degrees in front. Think this is a good addition as you already have the movement penalties in place for the 3 shields as light you can block and walk, medium you can block and walk slower, great you are completely stationary when blocking.
“Perfect block” - if shield is blocked perfectly in time with the attack, it should negate/reduce the damage and stagger from an attack. This additional mechanic would allow for additional player skill and depth to blocking mechanic of the game.
I am a huge fan of your inventory and shop related suggestions here. Favorite items are something I would use extensively. Gem crafting could be neat as well, since it would give another use to the lower tier gems besides alchemy ingredients.
Rune swapping is something I’m less keen on, although I do feel like the rune system in general could be overhauled. It’s hard to figure out what runes will do, or to find specific runes you are looking for. The way the system works now, it does feel thematically correct to have to destroy a rune to remove it. After all, the rune specialist in town tells you that binding runes comes with a cost. It just feels bad to have to craft/buy multiple of an item just to test it and move it’s rune over to your main weapon. I’ve gotten used to testing the runes on their source items first, or just using the database to find out what they will do and how to get them.
As far as shield mechanics . . . I’m not sure. I haven’t tested shields out enough to know how different/similar the different types of shield feel. I mostly use the heaviest shields I can, if I use one at all. The way enemies respond to hitting my shield feels okay, and the amount of damage resistance the shield offers me feels fine too.
A perfect block would make using lighter shields more interesting, especially if there was a tradeoff with some other aspect. Wouldn’t that just feel like parrying though? The blocking angle feels unnecessary too, since the auto lock feature keeps you centered on your enemy at all times.
Re: “Rune swapping”, perhaps I should’ve used “Rune re-binding”. i mean rebinding the already installed runes into different keybinds. Ie (fire dart) is bind to “X” button i want to move it to “Y” button it means i have to delete the “X” button rune, delete the rune on the “Y” button, pull a new (fire dart) rune and slot it into the “Y” and do the same for “X” etc. It’s doable, but we are talking QoL improvements. Why can’t Eleanor swap X button rune with the Y button rune at all?
Re: “angle blocking” actually this is already in the game. I just tested it again. It’s actually is even better than my suggestion and is based off the shield shape. Most easily noticeable way to test is turtle yourself in a corner and fight off multiple enemies. Your block rate increases with the large rectangular great shield in the corner compared to a light round shield against multiple foes. Intentionally locked onto just the one enemy and let the ones from the sides hit in to test.
Re: “Perfect block”; perhaps instead of full damage negation, lower the damage further to chip damage and/or no poise/stagger penalty to keep blocking separate from Parry. Currently blocking does not stagger enemy as much as a parry does which keeps them separate. Another way to think about perfect block is someone to properly bracing for an attack than holding a shield up not know when an attack is coming. Parry is an intentional counter attack with the shield.
I see. Rebinding runes would certainly be a QOL improvement. I guess the reason why Eleanor can’t do it right now would be just the fact that runes being ‘bound’ carries some sort of significance in the lore, and the devs just haven’t thought to make the button change improvement a priority. It would be neat to be able to rearrange the runes on uniques too, so they can match the layout on my customized weapon I grew familiar with after leveling in the first place.
If angled blocking is already in the game, I never noticed. Most likely because I only use the heavy shields, and typically if I get surrounded I try to reposition or just shoulder charge the enemies that get behind me. Cool that it’s already there though.
As far as perfect blocking . . . Currently blocking an attack applies a lot of damage reduction to the attack you blocked and builds stagger on both you and the enemy slightly as well as interrupting their attack animation if it’s a light weapon. If you block enough attacks, and you have enough stagger resistance, the enemy will stagger themselves.
Are you hoping for a timing minigame where you stagger them faster while not staggering yourself and maybe taking even less damage? That seems excessive when you compare it to parrying, which makes you take no damage and stuns the enemy temporarily.
The only worthy benefit to a ‘perfect block’ would have to be if it increases stagger buildup on the enemy, while not staggering you. Even so it feels like it would just be feature bloat, not adding enough to the game to merit the development time. It’s a cool idea, and might be fun to interact with in a build dedicated to it or on a challenge run, but most players will likely just ignore it altogether in favor of parrying or ranged attacks.
Although, I may have just talked myself into liking it. Especially since stagger is currently in a weird place as far as game balance. Stagger builds could benefit from having more ways to actively try to stagger the enemy, rather than it being a purely passive buildup while you fight.
